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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 721 records · Page 40

Bilayer twisting as a mean to isolate connected flat bands in a kagome lattice throughWigner crystallization*

The physics of flat band is novel and rich but difficult to access. In this regard, recently twisting of bilayer van der Waals (vdW)-bounded two-dimensional (2D) materials has attracted much attention, because the reduction of Brillouin zone will eventually lead to a diminishing kinetic energy. Alternatively, one may start with a 2D kagome lattice, which already possesses flat bands at the Fermi level, but unfortunately these bands connect quadratically to other (dispersive) bands, leading to undesirable effects. Here, we propose, by first-principles calculation and tight-binding modeling, that the same bilayer twisting approach can be used to isolate the kagome flat bands. As the starting kinetic energy is already vanishingly small, the interlayer vdW potential is always sufficiently large irrespective of the twisting angle. As such the electronic states in the (connected) flat bands become unstable against a spontaneous Wigner crystallization, which is expected to have interesting interplays with other flat-band phenomena such as novel superconductivity and anomalous quantum Hall effect.

Physics↗

Noise transmission through flat rectangular panels into a closed cavity

Five panels backed by a closed cavity were studied experimentally and analytically to determine the noise transmission characteristics of the coupled panel-cavity system. The closed cavity was studied both with and without fiber-glass lining to provide either an absorbent or a reverberant acoustic space. The effects on noise reduction of cavity absorption, measurement location within the cavity, panel mass, and panel stiffness were examined. Results indicated that both measurement location and absorption in the cavity have significant effects on the noise reduction. Increasing panel mass improves the noise reduction at almost all frequencies, and increasing panel stiffness improves nose reduction below the fundamental resonance frequency. A simple, one dimensional analytical model was developed which provided good agreement with the experimental results.

Barton, C. K.↗

Wire EDM for Refractory Materials

In an attempt to reduce fabrication time and costs, Wire Electrical Discharge Machine (Wire EDM) method was investigated as tool for fabricating matched blade roots and disk slots. Eight high-strength nickel-base superalloys were used. Computer-controlled Wire EDM technique provided high quality surfaces with excellent dimensional tolerances. Wire EDM method offers potential for substantial reductions in fabrication costs for "hard to machine" alloys and electrically conductive materials in specific high-precision applications.

Zellars, G. R.↗

Active control of transition by periodic suction-blowing

A numerical study is conducted to investigate a new method of transition control by periodic suction-blowing. It is shown that significant reduction in the amplitudes of two- and three-dimensional finite-amplitude disturbances can be obtained by the application of this method to transition in plane channel flow.

Biringen, S.↗

Experimental investigation of the effect of aspect ratio and Mach number on the flutter of cantilever wings

The results of some wind-tunnel experiments to investigate the effects of aspect ratio and Mach number on the flutter of uniform, unswept, cantilever wings are reported. Models having aspect ratios ranging from 2 to 13 were tested at Mach numbers up to 0.92. No general attempt is made to correlate the data with three-dimensional-flow theory, but an examination of the data is made on the basis of reference theoretical values obtained from the two-dimensional incompressible-flow theory. On this basis a reduction in aspect ratio, in general, increased the ratio of the experimental flutter speed to the calculated flutter speed. The analysis also indicated that for a given aspect ratio, this ratio decreased slightly as the Mach number is increased.

Widmayer, E , Jr↗

Radiation-induced second cancers: the impact of 3D-CRT and IMRT

Information concerning radiation-induced malignancies comes from the A-bomb survivors and from medically exposed individuals, including second cancers in radiation therapy patients. The A-bomb survivors show an excess incidence of carcinomas in tissues such as the gastrointestinal tract, breast, thyroid, and bladder, which is linear with dose up to about 2.5 Sv. There is great uncertainty concerning the dose-response relationship for radiation-induced carcinogenesis at higher doses. Some animal and human data suggest a decrease at higher doses, usually attributed to cell killing; other data suggest a plateau in dose. Radiotherapy patients also show an excess incidence of carcinomas, often in sites remote from the treatment fields; in addition there is an excess incidence of sarcomas in the heavily irradiated in-field tissues. The transition from conventional radiotherapy to three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy (3D-CRT) involves a reduction in the volume of normal tissues receiving a high dose, with an increase in dose to the target volume that includes the tumor and a limited amount of normal tissue. One might expect a decrease in the number of sarcomas induced and also (less certain) a small decrease in the number of carcinomas. All around, a good thing. By contrast, the move from 3D-CRT to intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) involves more fields, and the dose-volume histograms show that, as a consequence, a larger volume of normal tissue is exposed to lower doses. In addition, the number of monitor units is increased by a factor of 2 to 3, increasing the total body exposure, due to leakage radiation. Both factors will tend to increase the risk of second cancers. Altogether, IMRT is likely to almost double the incidence of second malignancies compared with conventional radiotherapy from about 1% to 1.75% for patients surviving 10 years. The numbers may be larger for longer survival (or for younger patients), but the ratio should remain the same.

Review, Tutorial↗

The application scope of the reductive perturbation method and the upper limit of the dust acoustic solitary waves in a dusty plasma

The dust acoustic solitary waves have been numerically investigated by using one dimensional electrostatic particle-in-cell method. By comparing the numerical results with those obtained from the traditional reductive perturbation method, it is found that there exist the maximum dimensionless amplitude and propagation speed of the dust acoustic solitary wave. And these limitations of the solitary wave are explained by using the Sagdeev potential technique. Furthermore, it is noticed that although ϵ ≪ 1 is required in the reductive perturbation method generally, the reductive perturbation method is also valid for ϵ < 1 in a dusty plasma, which may be extended to branches where the reductive perturbation method is used.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Investigation of Computational Corrections to X-Ray Computed Tomography for Dimensional Metrology of Complex Additively Manufactured Parts

X-ray computed tomography (CT) is a nondestructive evaluation technique that may be used to image complex internal features without the line-of-sight restrictions inherent in conventional optical and contact (stylus) metrology instrumentation. Applications of CT metrology include material defects (porosity), dimensions and surface texture. However, scan artifacts, such as streaking, caused primarily by beam hardening and scatter, limit the accuracy of CTbased metrology. Reduction of these artifacts would improve the accuracy material properties and dimensional metrology information. This paper reports on the development of additively manufactured (AM) Ti5553 and 316L measurement phantoms with integral lattice (lattice) structures specifically designed to exhibit these artifacts. The phantoms were scanned in three CT systems and a scanning-probe CMM measurement. Surfaces generated from uncorrected CT data exhibited “dimple” defects that are not present in the CMM measurement. Correction methods were developed in Livermore Tomography Tools (LTT) software and this paper reports on the successful correction of these artifacts. This work is expected to have application in areas where characterization of defects, dimensions and surface texture using CT are critical.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Coupling flux balance analysis with reactive transport modeling through machine learning for rapid and stable simulation of microbial metabolic switching

Integrating genome-scale metabolic networks with reactive transport models (RTMs) provides a detailed description of the dynamic changes in microbial growth and metabolism. Despite promising demonstrations in the past, computational inefficiency has been pointed out as a critical issue to overcome because it requires repeated application of linear programming (LP) to obtain flux balance analysis (FBA) solutions in every time step and spatial grid. To address this challenge, we propose a new simulation method where we train and validate artificial neural networks (ANNs) using randomly sampled FBA solutions and incorporate the resulting surrogate FBA model (represented as algebraic equations) into RTMs as source/sink terms. We demonstrate the efficiency of our method via a case study of Shewanella oneidensis MR-1. During aerobic growth on lactate, S. oneidensis produces metabolic byproducts (such as pyruvate and acetate), which are subsequently consumed as alternative carbon sources when the preferred nutrients are depleted. To effectively simulate these complex dynamics, we used a cybernetic approach that models metabolic switches as the outcome of dynamic competition among multiple growth options. In both zero-dimensional batch and one-dimensional column configurations, the ANN-based surrogate models achieved substantial reduction of computational time by several orders of magnitude compared to the original LP-based FBA models. Moreover, the ANN models produced robust solutions without any special measures to prevent numerical instability. These developments significantly promote our ability to utilize genome-scale networks in complex, multi-physics, and multi-dimensional ecosystem modeling.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Fringe biasing: A variance reduction technique for optically thick meshes

Fringe biasing is a stratified sampling scheme applicable to Monte Carlo thermal radiation transport codes. The thermal emission source in optically thick cells is partitioned into separate contributions from the cell interiors (where the likelihood of the particles escaping the cells is virtually zero) and the 'fringe' regions close to the cell boundaries. Thermal emission in the cell interiors can now be modelled with fewer particles, the remaining particles being concentrated in the fringes so that they are more likely to contribute to the energy exchange between cells. Unlike other techniques for improving the efficiency in optically thick regions (such as random walk and discrete diffusion treatments), fringe biasing has the benefit of simplicity, as the associated changes are restricted to the sourcing routines with the particle tracking routines being unaffected. This paper presents an analysis of the potential for variance reduction achieved from employing the fringe biasing technique. The aim of this analysis is to guide the implementation of this technique in Monte Carlo thermal radiation codes, specifically in order to aid the choice of the fringe width and the proportion of particles allocated to the fringe (which are interrelated) in multi-dimensional simulations, and to confirm that the significant levels of variance reduction achieved in simulations can be understood by studying the behaviour for simple test cases. The variance reduction properties are studied for a single cell in a slab geometry purely absorbing medium, investigating the accuracy of the scalar flux and current tallies on one of the interfaces with the surrounding medium. (authors)

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Two-dimensional nanostructured Y{sub 2}O{sub 3} particles for viscosity modification

Nanoparticle additives have been shown to improve the mechanical and transport phenomena of various liquids; however, little has been done to try and explain the rheological modifications provided from such modifications from a theoretical standpoint. Here, we report a non-Einstein-like reduction of viscosity of mineral oil with the utilization of yttrium oxide nanosheet additives. Experimental results, coupled with generalized smoothed-particle hydrodynamics simulations, provide insight into the mechanism behind this reduction of fluid shear stress. The ordered inclination of these two-dimensional nanoparticle additives markedly improves the lubricating properties of the mineral oil, ultimately reducing the friction, and providing a way in designing and understanding next generation of lubricants.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Surface defects and chiral algebras

Here, we investigate superconformal surface defects in four-dimensional N = 2 superconformal theories. Each such defect gives rise to a module of the associated chiral algebra and the surface defect Schur index is the character of this module. Various natural chiral algebra operations such as Drinfield-Sokolov reduction and spectral flow can be interpreted as constructions involving four-dimensional surface defects. We compute the index of these defects in the free hypermultiplet theory and Argyres-Douglas theories, using both infrared techniques involving BPS states, as well as renormalization group flows onto Higgs branches. We find perfect agreement with the predicted characters, in each case.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Windowed least-squares model reduction for dynamical systems

Here we propose a windowed least-squares (WLS) approach for model reduction of dynamical systems. The proposed approach sequentially minimizes the time-continuous full-order-model residual within a low-dimensional space–time trial subspace over time windows. The approach comprises a generalization of existing model reduction approaches, as particular instances of the methodology recover Galerkin, least-squares Petrov–Galerkin (LSPG), and space–time LSPG projection. In addition, the approach addresses key deficiencies in existing model reduction techniques, e.g., the dependence of LSPG and space–time LSPG projection on the time discretization and the exponential growth in time exhibited by a posteriori error bounds for both Galerkin and LSPG projection. We consider two types of space–time trial subspaces within the proposed approach: one that reduces only the spatial dimension of the full-order model, and one that reduces both the spatial and temporal dimensions of the full-order model. For each type of trial subspace, we consider two different solution techniques: direct (i.e., discretize then optimize) and indirect (i.e., optimize then discretize). Numerical experiments conducted using trial subspaces characterized by spatial dimension reduction demonstrate that the WLS approach can yield more accurate solutions with lower space–time residuals than Galerkin and LSPG projection.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Carbonate Management to Enable Energy- and Carbon-Efficient CO 2 Electrolysis (Final Technical Report)

The rapid growth and plummeting cost of solar energy have spurred growing interest in using CO 2 electrolysis to produce chemicals and fuels as an alternative to conventional petrochemical processes. High-temperature (>800 °C) solid oxide electrolyzers that convert CO 2 into CO and O 2 have recently become commercially available. Low-temperature electrolysis cells offer the prospect of more convenient and flexible operation, which is critical for utilizing intermittent solar energy, and provide access to more valuable C 2+ products such as ethylene, ethanol, and propanol. Over the past 10 years, research in this area has yielded substantial progress in both fundamental understanding of the requisite electrocatalytic reactions and design of prototype devices. Leveraging insights from fuel cells and membrane water electrolyzers, researchers have developed electrolysis cells with gas diffusion electrodes (GDE) that have demonstrated high CO 2 electrolysis current densities (>100 mA cm –2 ) as well as promising selectivity and stability. Despite these advances, the energy efficiency (electrical energy-to-product) and carbon efficiency (CO 2 -to-product) of low-temperature CO 2 electrolysis remain far too low for large-scale deployment. A preponderance of evidence indicates that the principal source of efficiency losses is the rapid and thermodynamically favorable reaction of CO 2 with hydroxide (OH – ) to form carbonate (CO 3 2– ). Carbonate formation imposes steady-state electrolysis conditions that result in large voltage and CO 2 losses for all known (photo)electrochemical CO 2 cells. While much current research remains focused on CO 2 reduction catalyst design, this largely overlooked CO 3 2– problem presents a fundamental scientific barrier to creating a viable electrochemical option for converting solar energy into chemicals and fuels. The project pursues an integrated, multi-PI research effort that establishes a fundamental science of CO 3 2– management. PI Kanan and Co-PI Mani’s contribution to the project is to evaluate strategies to mitigate the CO 3 2– problem by changing the properties of the electrolyte and the environment in which CO 2 reduction catalysis takes place. Experimental studies showed that electrolytes composed of a high concentration of both CO 3 2– and HCO 3 – , which serve as moderately alkaline buffers, improved the cell voltage by compared to all-HCO 3 – electrolytes, but these buffered systems still show substantial CO 2 uptake that reduces pH over time. Computational studies developed a homogenized model of a CO 2 reduction catalyst layer that permits a low-cost exploration of the high-dimensional parameter space associated with catalyst layers on gas diffusion electrodes. The model was validated by accurately reproducing experimental data for the related but simpler reaction of CO reduction and then used to probe the effects of catalyst layer architecture on CO 2 reduction. Minimizing the size of catalyst and hydrophobic domains in the catalyst layer is predicted to mitigate CO 3 2– formation and thereby enable prolonged operation at elevated pH. In support of the CO 2 electrolysis studies, a new method for rapidly prototyping electrochemical cells was developed and validated. The method uses a combination of 3D printing and electroless plating to generate conductive cell components for evaluating new cell designs. The carbonate problem encompasses mass transport processes and acid-base reactions that are relevant to many other electrochemical systems. Investigation of strategies to address the carbonate problem led to an additional line of inquiry into the physicochemical phenomena that determine the efficiency of electrochemical acid-base production, which has numerous applications in the broader field of carbon management. New strategies for using the supporting electrolyte to inhibit H + /OH – recombination in electrochemical acid-base production were evaluated, leading to the development of a novel acid-base producing system that eliminates the need for ion exchange membranes and exhibits promising efficiency and current densities for scalable applications.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

Dosimetric comparison of helical tomotherapy, intensity-modulated radiation therapy, volumetric-modulated arc therapy, and 3-dimensional conformal therapy for the treatment of T1N0 glottic cancer

Various radiotherapy planning methods for T1N0 laryngeal cancer have been proposed to decrease normal tissue toxicity. We compare helical tomotherapy (HT), linac-based intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), volumetric-modulated arc therapy (VMAT), and 3-D conformal radiotherapy (3D-CRT) techniques for T1N0 laryngeal cancer. Overall, 10 patients with T1N0 laryngeal cancer were selected and evaluated. Furthermore, 10 radiotherapy treatment plans have been created for all 10 patients, including HT, IMRT, VMAT, and 3D-CRT. IMRT, VMAT, and HT plans vs 3D-CRT plans consistently provided superior planning target volume (PTV) coverage. Similar target coverage was observed between the 3 IMRT modalities. Compared with 3D-CRT, IMRT, HT, and VMAT significantly reduced the mean dose to the carotid arteries. VMAT resulted in the lowest mean dose to the submandibular and thyroid glands. Compared with 3D-CRT, IMRT, HT, and VMAT significantly increased the maximum dose to the spinal cord It was observed that the 3 IMRT modalities studied showed superior target coverage with less variation between each plan in comparison with 3D-CRT. The 3D-CRT plans performed better at the D{sub max} of the spinal cord. Clinical investigation is warranted to determine if these treatment approaches would translate into a reduction in radiation therapy–induced toxicities.

61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY↗

Robust system size reduction of discrete fracture networks: a multi-fidelity method that preserves transport characteristics

In this paper, we propose a multi-fidelity system reduction technique that uses weighted graphs paired with three-dimensional discrete fracture network (DFN) modelling for efficient simulation of subsurface flow and transport in fractured media. DFN models are used to simulate flow and transport in subsurface fractured rock with low-permeability. One method to alleviate the heavy computational overhead associated with these simulations is to reduce the size of the DFN using a graph representation of it to identify the primary flow sub-network and only simulate flow and transport thereon. The first of these methods used unweighted graphs constructed solely on DFN topology and could be used for accurate predictions of first-passage times. However, these techniques perform poorly when predicting later stages of the mass breakthrough. We utilize a weighted-graph representation of the DFN where edge weights are based on hydrological parameters in the DFN that allows us to exploit the kinematic quantities derivable a posteriori from the flow solution obtained on the graph representation of the DFN to perform system reduction and predict the later stages of the breakthrough curve with high fidelity. We also propose and demonstrate the use of an adaptive pruning algorithm with error control that produces a pruned DFN sub-network whose predicted mass breakthrough agrees with the original DFN within a user-specified tolerance. Lastly, the method allows for the level of accuracy to be a user-controlled parameter.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Combined LAURA-UPS solution procedure for chemically-reacting flows

A new procedure seeks to combine the thin-layer Navier-Stokes solver LAURA with the parabolized Navier-Stokes solver UPS for the aerothermodynamic solution of chemically-reacting air flowfields. The interface protocol is presented and the method is applied to two slender, blunted shapes. Both axisymmetric and three dimensional solutions are included with surface pressure and heat transfer comparisons between the present method and previously published results. The case of Mach 25 flow over an axisymmetric six degree sphere-cone with a noncatalytic wall is considered to 100 nose radii. A stability bound on the marching step size was observed with this case and is attributed to chemistry effects resulting from the noncatalytic wall boundary condition. A second case with Mach 28 flow over a sphere-cone-cylinder-flare configuration is computed at both two and five degree angles of attack with a fully-catalytic wall. Surface pressures are seen to be within five percent with the present method compared to the baseline LAURA solution and heat transfers are within 10 percent. The effect of grid resolution is investigated and the nonequilibrium results are compared with a perfect gas solution, showing that while the surface pressure is relatively unchanged by the inclusion of reacting chemistry the nonequilibrium heating is 25 percent higher. The procedure demonstrates significant, order of magnitude reductions in solution time and required memory for the three dimensional case over an all thin-layer Navier-Stokes solution.

Wood, William A.↗

Multi-dimensional instability of obliquely propagating ion acoustic solitary waves in electron-positron-ion superthermal magnetoplasmas

The solitary structures of multi–dimensional ion-acoustic solitary waves (IASWs) have been considered in magnetoplasmas consisting of electron-positron-ion with high-energy (superthermal) electrons and positrons are investigated. Using a reductive perturbation method, a nonlinear Zakharov-Kuznetsov equation is derived. The multi-dimensional instability of obliquely propagating (with respect to the external magnetic field) IASWs has been studied by the small-k (long wavelength plane wave) expansion perturbation method. The instability condition and the growth rate of the instability have been derived. It is shown that the instability criterion and their growth rate depend on the parameter measuring the superthermality, the ion gyrofrequency, the unperturbed positrons-to-ions density ratio, the direction cosine, and the ion-to-electron temperature ratio. Clearly, the study of our model under consideration is helpful for explaining the propagation and the instability of IASWs in space observations of magnetoplasmas with superthermal electrons and positrons.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗